Flu shots for toddlers

This flu season, the recommendations on who should definitely get a flu shot have been expanded to include all children 18 and younger. But those very young kids age 6 months to 2 years have been on that list for some time now, since they’re considered to be at high risk for serious complications from flu.

That’s because their immune systems aren’t quite up to speed at that age. And by 6 months, they’ve lost whatever protection they got from their mom’s antibodies. The flu shot isn’t approved for kids younger than six months.

This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released some estimates on how many of those little kids got vaccinated against the flu last season. Actually they are supposed to get two doses spaced at least four weeks apart the very first time they’re vaccinated.

Bexar County was one of only a handful of urban areas included in the statistics, which show 31.6 percent of local kids got at least one doses, and 17.9 percent got the recommended two doses. The national average was 31.8 for one and 21.3 percent for both.

Bexar had better vaccine coverage than Houston, Dallas and El Paso &#151 which trailed in Texas with 6.4 percent getting both doses.

Among states, Rhode Island led with 47.6 getting both doses, and Mississippi took the bottom spot with 8.6 percent.